Ethical Decision
My ethical dilemma was about three years ago, I was in stage 3 of my moral development, which is Good Interpersonal Relationships (Behrens, Rosen 285). The situation all started when Hannah, my by best friend since diapers, was living a rough life. Her mom turned into a alcoholic and her dad was an alcoholic as well. Hannah and I were in high school at the time, so we were just becoming teenagers. Slowly alcohol took over her mom's life. She was drinking during the day, drinking at night, passing out on the porch, and even a little abusive. I'll never forget when Hannah came over and told me that her mom slapped her. That's when I knew I had to get her out of there. I had to make the choice of either letting Hannah live with me, which would mean her being safe and her being in a good environment, or letting Hannah continue to live in a bad environment and put her at risk of getting hurt. If Hannah moved in with me, her mom may call the law on her or send her to her father's, which is not the best environment either. Also, Hannah's family would talk bad about my family, like how we weren't being very christian-like letting Hannah disrespect her mothers rules. My final decision was to move Hannah in with me. I didn't care about anything else but her safety and her well-being. Of course there would be consequences, but my family always taught me to do what's right. That's why I went with the virtue approach, this approach states that "...virtues are dispositions and habits that enable us to act according to the highest potential of our character and on behalf of values like truth and beauty."(Behrens, Rosen 277).I made the choice I made because this is what I think is best, I was being generous and loving. Hannah lived with me for a year until her mom got better. To this day, Hannah's family still looks at us differently for taking her in, but I don't regret the choice I made. She's like my soul sister, my parents have raised her since we was baby's, and still to this day she's my best friend. Family is family and i'll always protect her no matter what.
I think you made a really good and admirable choice. When I was that young I don't think I would have thought to be so helpful or even be brave enough to ask my parents to let a friend move in with me, even though they probably would not have had a problem with it under these types of circumstances. I definitely find the decision you made to be very ethical. I would have really loved to read more about the decision making process as well though, like all of the different options you had thought about before deciding that moving her in was the best option or if you had any concerns about how your family would adjust. I enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for sharing!
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